In which Ineke Grows Up

Corynn made the bunny illustration and glued it to a journal

Thank you Abby, for the suggestion of this book!  She was thrilled!

Ineke turned seven just a few days shy of Christmas.  

Her birthday wish was to be able to help decorate her own cake.  

(Usually it is a big surprise which is fun but requires banishment during rest time so I can decorate in secret.)

For days she tried to think of how she would decorate her cake and would change her mind every few minutes.  The day was coming closer and she had still not pegged down an idea.

(This is A LOT of pressure, my friends!)

And then I remembered a few years ago buying cute little Nutcracker picks and cupcake liners at the after-Christmas clearance sales.  I rummaged around for a bit and found them in my secret stash of sundry clearance stuff.  (Do other people have such places?)  I showed them to her and suggested she made a towering Christmas tree for them to dance around and she was SOLD. 

I include so many present pictures because her reactions were so wonderful.  She has been asking for a camera of her own for two years now and cyber Monday deals found an el cheapo one with her name on it.  I think it made her the happiest girl in the world.

Ineke is as spunky as those piggytails and as sweet as that smile.  

There were five years of wondering whether another baby was to be in our future and some were hard years- but boy, was she worth the wait. 

We love you Teetah!